Frankinstein Flashcards
Walton letter 1:
Writing from st. Petersburg
🌟presented as naive, immature to the risks
🌟embodies the enlightenment period, a time defined by rapid scientific progress and discovery
‘Region of beauty and delight’
‘A country of eternal light’
‘Never before imprinted by the footof man’
‘the joy a child feels when he embarks on a little boat’
‘Inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind to the last generation’
AO3 Mary Shelley
Parents
inspiration
lack of parental relationships
Anxious to prove herself worthy of her parentage,
Daughter of the Proto feminist Mary Wollstonecraft :
Who wrote a vindication for the rights of women.
Lack of parental relationships,
Mary had an affair with Percy Shelley
Disowned by her father William Godwin.
Galvani- current through frogs
Aldini- current through animals
At the time people thought it was possible.
GENRE : Gothic
Mary Shelley:
‘If only i could contrive one which would frighten my reader as I had myself been frightened’
Gothic genre- to create fear
Concerned about 19th century rapid scientific progression.
The alternative Title to Frankenstein
: The modern Prometheus
According to Greek legend, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humankind. He faced eternal punishment for going against god. Chained to a rock whilst birds ate his liver regenerates daily.
MARY BEGINS WITH A WARNING
Walton’s letters
Plot summary
Artic setting presentation
Presentation of Walton
plot: Walton is in st Petersburg, writing to his sister Margaret.
He is preparing for his sea voyage north in hope of discovering ‘A passage near the pole’
His goal is to become a famous explorer and become the first person to find Nordenskiöld’s northeast passage.
Tells his sister:
‘Has no friend’
Desires ‘company of a man who could sympathise’
Ignores ‘the threat of the floating sheets of ice’
By letter 4:
Ship becomes entrenched by ice
Victor Frankenstein is I’ll and brought aboard.
Discussions: first evidence of ❄️doppelgängers :
Both hubristic and arrogant, unbridled ambition, pride, egotistical, push boundaries of nature
WHY Dopelgangers:
Criticise foolish enlightenment
Warning of rapid scientific progression
Emphasise: growing consistent enlightenment. All of them.
‘🧠No one near me gentle yet courageous possessive of a cultivated capacious mind’
Foreshadows arrival of victor
Establishes character
Doppelgänger Both foolish and naive
Non enlightenment= inferior
All enlightenment the same
ARTIC
‘Region of beauty and delight’
‘Inestimable benefit confer to all mankind till the last generation’
‘Thousand celestial observations’
‘Country of eternal light’
Through the framed narrative of the epistolary novel the lettered end with the beginnings of victors story of how he came to be in the ship
WALTON AO2
🚤 ‘Joy a child feels on a little boat’
childish enthusiasm and excitement
Naive, immature to the risks, a game
Attitude highlights the egotistical nature of enlightenment
Mary Shelley critiques. As a romantic.
👑‘Success shall crown my endeavours’
Shall modal verb conveys his optimism
Certainty
Hubristic
Belief he can take nature
Foolish
Godlike control
At the time of writing
The artic
The enlightenment vs Romantics
The late Georgians (1811-1837) were obsessed with science, exploration and discovery.
Artic- links to contemporary current interests
The enlightenment:
Time period defined by rapid scientific progress and discovery
Victory and Walton embody
As a romantic
Mary Shelley feared humans taking control
Usurp
BY THE END OF THE TEXT WALTONS VIEW CHANGES
reveals Mary’s more romantic view
‘Even the sailors feel the power of his eloquence’
Intertextual Reference to Rime of the ancient mariner-
🐥’ I shall kill no albatros’
Giant bird
Cursed/ eternal punishment
WHY?
Enlightenment
The late Georgians (1811-1837) were obsessed with science, exploration and discovery.
I AM UP TO PAGE 8 IN MY FRNAKINSTEIN BOOKLET
- Wretched condition
